nfreeman

Yes -- it was excellent.

The way to win is to fight the war with determination and with all means available -- including a major deployment of ground troops in the ME, and a large and permanent base there (probably more than one). Competence, honesty and leadership are also needed from the c-in-c. Cryptic because I was/am leery of getting sucked into the same argument here for the umpteenth time. There is plenty of election fraud there, but not enough IMHO to throw the election. BBC and the Economist have the same perspective on this as the NYT and WP.

Welcome Patrick!

Well, Turks that hang out with NYT/WP writers don't like Erdogan and the Islamists, but that intelligentsia is a minority and an endangered species. They keep winning elections -- and the people who vote for them know exactly what they're getting. That's why they vote for them.

Turkey is gone, but it hasn't fallen in the same way France and Germany are in danger of -- what Turkey has is what the majority of the population wants. I think the National Front is going to win the next election in France and within a few years a similar group will win in Germany. Then there will be more attacks, those governments will implement extreme measures, which will be somewhat but not completely effective, there will be further attacks and the result will be a series of bloodbaths. There's only one way to win this world war.

I hate to say it but France is doomed.

I'm kinda curious as to how long PA is going to keep complaining about something that everyone else likes. Perhaps this thread should be pinned for easy reference.

I read it and I agree.

Apropos of the above: 1. "All the King's Men" is a great movie. 2. Chris Rock's riff on Tupac and Biggie getting "assassinated" is a classic. 3. I think this is the first time I've ever used the word "apropos" in a post.

Vesey ending up in Boston makes a lot of sense. It's quite plausible that he's always wanted to play there, that by this spring it was apparent to him that the Bruins needed a top-6 winger and that he was good enough to fill that role, and that all he had to do was turn Nashville down to make it happen.

Yes, and he was actively waging a war against the US and was located in a foreign country.

They were never harangued. Threads are still going to be pinned.

Dude -- this is out of line. Why would he have been entitled to US constitutional protections?

Well, he was pretty definitive that he's going to wait until Aug. 15. To me that means the Sabres' chances of getting him just took a major hit and are now well below 50/50.

Welcome YSE!

If they get 5 Ws out of the 11 OTLs, that's a 5-point improvement, not 10, right? They need to be a few games over DeLuca .500 to make the playoffs -- e.g. 44-31-7.

It is strange that he did that -- and he mentioned Vesey twice in a short answer about playoff expectations -- unless he is highly confident that the Sabres are going to sign him. I completely agree with the bolded -- the Sabres didn't get the opponents' A games most nights. Hopefully that will change because the Sabres will be good enough to require it, but it will make it tougher to get wins.

Ooooooooooohhhhh. THAT just happened.

Great breakdown, sir. I do, although I can see Nelson supplanting Franson (but probably not as of opening night).

Jeez. One arrest with a briefcase filled with pills and cash, one cheesy goatee, and all of a sudden he's a bad manager?

I thought this too, but then I kinda moved towards thinking it might've been more a message to the team -- i.e. something like "we want Vesey but let's not act like he's our only option in the top 6 -- we've got Nylander too."

There is zero possibility that anyone other than Gionta will be the captain this season.

First bolded point: I don't think any well-run NHL franchise would assume that Vesey, with zero NHL experience, was going to be a difference-maker for a playoff run. So they wouldn't have based any deadline decisions on the assumption that Vesey was coming. I also don't think Vesey would've had much value at the deadline -- again, he had no NHL experience and was about to become a UFA. Second bolded point: why would he do this? He's finishing up a strong senior year and knows he's going to be a UFA and in demand. What purpose would it serve to lead on the Preds? I think it's much more likely that the agent told the Preds that Vesey liked them and was leaning towards signing there but wasn't sure and that the Preds should not base any decisions on Vesey being there -- and that, as dudacek says, they heard what they wanted to hear.

He can be a good GM and still spin the company line when needed. It's pretty much part of the job. I've never met him and I'd guess you haven't either. We have no idea whatsoever whether he'd be above a bit of corporate spin.

Pi -- you are free to choose to believe the Predators' version of events, but Vesey and his agent have repeatedly denied that version and offered a different one. You can't just state the Predators' version as undisputed fact.